This week, as they showed off every nook and cranny of the building, which has occupied the corner of Grand Avenue and Lexington Parkway since 1936, the new owners were as reverent as they were excited about reviving the restaurant.

"This is really a legacy deal for all three of us," said Fitzgerald, who with Thoma co-owns the seafood restaurant Smack Shack in Minneapolis' North Loop.

They're not the only ones who can't wait for the storied restaurant, which has been closed for nearly a year, to re-open.

Mayor Chris Coleman announced the new ownership at a news conference at the Lex on Thursday afternoon.

"There have been many wakes in the past few months where we didn't know where to go after the wake," Coleman joked, adding that the Lexington isn't just a place to go after a funeral.

"The Lex is personal to me," he continued. "My dad (state Sen. Nick Coleman Sr.) was on the wall, and when I got (my picture hung) on the wall, it was a proud moment."

Coleman called the change in ownership "such a great moment for the Lex."

The restaurant will undergo renovations and re-open in the fall.

The Lexington closed after a group of friends who bought it in 2011 decided to sell last spring. A few deals fell through during the ensuing year, and speculation over who would finally land the historic space ran high.

Riebel, a 2013 finalist for a prestigious national James Beard award and most recently the chef at the critically acclaimed Butcher and the Boar in Minneapolis, will drive the restaurant's menu. He promised it will stay true to the Lexington's roots -- with updates.

Riebel also promised its storied chicken pot pie would remain, though he said it might be "chef Jack's version.

"We want to capture what it was and move it forward," said Riebel, who grew up three blocks from the restaurant. His mother still lives in his childhood home.

Thoma and Fitzgerald also are helping prop up of another St. Paul institution: They are busy adding a kitchen and menu to Half-Time Rec, an Irish bar in the Como neighborhood.

At the Lex, there will be some lighting changes, fresh carpeting and some refreshing of the enormous building (an estimated 20,000 square feet), but "the bones will remain intact," Thoma said. That includes the intricate woodwork and antique chandeliers.

Other changes will include a rooftop patio -- approved by the city before the restaurant closed last year -- in summer 2015 and the opening of the Williamsburg Room, which has a separate entrance off Lexington Parkway, as a more modern cocktail lounge.

The Williamsburg Room, which sports a cherrywood bar and walls and a spiral staircase, had been used for private parties. The hope is the room will accommodate live music, too.

"This will be the starter Lex for a younger generation," Thoma said as he stood behind the curved bar.

The front bar will remain unchanged: a classic martini bar, and the place where movers and shakers make deals and shake hands.

The back part of the dining room, which is a separate room Thoma referred to as "Siberia," will be renovated to include a window to the kitchen and removal of the back wall to let in natural light.

"We have to give people a reason to want to be back there," he said.

As for the upstairs, which had long been neglected and used for storage, the team plans an opulent space with a private dining room and ballroom. The balconies visible from the front of the building will be accessible for "special event selfies," the partners joked.

It might sound like a lot of changes, but Thoma, Fitzgerald and Riebel stressed that they hope not to change the restaurant, but return it to its former glory.

"The Lex is the Lex," Riebel said. "That's part of the allure for us."